Natalie J. Perry, PhD

Dr. Perry – who holds a Ph.D. in higher education (University of Virginia), an EdM in teaching and curriculum (Harvard University), and a BA in African American and African Studies (Ohio State University)– has been working to improve the higher education experience for faculty, staff, and trainees for more than a decade.

 Dr. Perry joined UCLA from American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where she served as the School of Education’s Associate Dean for Academic Programs, overseeing program reviews, academic planning, and accreditation. Before this role, Dr. Perry served as a Program Administrator at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students at Dartmouth College, and a Higher Education Administration Concentration Lead at Northeastern University’s Graduate School of Education.

An inaugural Massachusetts Women’s Leadership Fellow, Dr. Perry has led the design and evaluation of faculty retention programs and transition programs for first-generation and low-income students. Her doctoral dissertation (“Faculty Perceptions of Diversity at a Highly Selective Research-Intensive University”) examined institutional commitment to diversity from the perspective of organizational values. Dr. Perry’s wealth of experience in understanding and improving the culture of higher education, including in an academic health system, will be invaluable to our ongoing efforts to embed our aspirational Cultural North Star's value into our organizational DNA.